I would rather be healthy, not skinny. Many women strive to be skinny or slim in order to live up to the image society has set as beautiful. I dare to say that beauty doesn’t come from a cookie cutter. Beauty is in all shapes and sizes. That shape isn’t always skinny. Some find the curves of a woman's body to be the most beautiful thing created on this earth. I tend to agree. I know that I have a body shape that will never classify as skinny. That is why I challenge myself and others to to be healthy, not skinny.
Just because you see a girl that is slim doesn’t mean that she is healthy. Health comes from eating right, working out, and getting good sleep. Plenty of girls are skinny because of genetics, but poor habits can make them just as likely to have heart disease, stroke, and other health conditions as someone who is obese. Wouldn’t you rather be healthy, not skinny?
Not everyone who is slim has good muscle tone either. How many times have you heard that fad diets may help you lose weight, but you are also going to lose muscle tone? A person who is skinny but has never worked out or lifted weights lacks major muscle tone. They are what some would call skinny fat.
Realistically speaking, skinny isn’t an option for everyone. We all have different body types and shapes. Some of us have more curves and others not so much. You can’t change your shape. If you were born to have curves, those curves are going to be there no matter what your weight or pant size. You can’t turn a circle into a rectangle. It’s just not realistic.
What’s most important than how you look is how you feel. If you feel rested and well when you wake up then you are off to a great start. Keep that momentum going by making healthy choices for your body the rest of the day. Being healthy starts on the inside and will eventually show on the outside.
Most of the images we see of celebrities and models that crowd the magazine shelves are Photoshopped. They’ve been altered to fit someone else's standard of beauty. While we may think they look great in these pictures, it’s not always real. They are people too. Even the finest celebrity wakes up with bags under her eyes, cellulite on her thighs and a couple spots on her body that she’s not happy with. Many of these women are just as beautiful in their natural, un-Photoshopped pictures.
The real measure of health comes from the doctor's office, not the scale. Your weight only has a small portion to do with your overall health. Have your doctor run a panel of blood work and other test to find out just how healthy or unhealthy you really are. Use these results to fuel your self-improvement. Focus on lowering cholesterol and blood pressure, gaining more muscle and decreasing body fat.
Sometimes I hear my friends say, “If I was just skinny like her, I would be so happy.” My question is, “What does she have other than a body that is different than yours?” It is easy to look at someone and feel jealous of what they have, but until you know what it took them to get there or what their life is really like, you can’t say you would be happy if you had the same. Happiness is more than a number on a scale or the size of jeans you slide into. You can be happy and overweight. You can be sad and skinny.
How do you feel about being healthy over being skinny? Is being skinny worth jeopardizing your health?